Mlamli Tshaka Media

Day 3 of the marked the official opening of South Africa's premium youth football event. All 32 participants local and international, scouts, invited guests, fans etc were officially welcomed in a night of spectacular fireworks and great music. On the field of play defending champions, Grassy Park played to a goaless draw against FN Rangers. Earlier on, visitors from Free State Virginia Academy registered a 2-0 victory against host team Bayhill United. Mamelodi Sundowns also booked a place in the last 16 as they beat Hungry Lions by 2 goals to nil.

Earlier results:
Tuks 1 - Junction Rovers 0
Windhoek Gymnasium 1 - Leeds 3
Highlands Park 1 - Amalawu 0
Shayamoya 1 - Velocity 0

Day 2 of the has come and gone. Defending champions Grassy Park were off to a flying start as they walloped visitors from Namibia, Windhoek Gymnasium 6-0. It was also a good day for the township representatives Everton and Porto as they registered wins against Hanover Park and Shayamoya respectively. Porto are now through to the last 16 of the tournament with 6 points already in the bag. Both Rebels and Clover played draws as they are heading to the last games of the tournament.

Safa Cape Town Academy continued their giant killing spree as they beat Ubuntu Academy 2-1 following their 1-0 win yesterday against Cape Town City. The win gave Safa Cape Town Academy an automatic qualification to the last 16. This group will go down to the wire as Cape Town City will battle it out against Ubuntu Academy for for the remaining spot in the group. A game not to be miss. Who will join Safa CT Academy on Saturday? Time will tell.

The rest of Thursday's results are as follows:
Amalawu 1 Rebels 1
Rygersdal 2 Greenwood Athletic 1
CT Safa Academy 2 Ubuntu 1
Grassy Park 6 Windhoek Gymnasium 0
CT City 5 Westridge 0
Porto 3 Hanover Park 2
FN Rangers 2 Leeds 1
Virginia Sport 1 Young Bafana 1
Junction Rovers 1 SSS Academy 1
CT Spurs 5 Velocity 0
Hungry Lion 0 FC Real 0
Everton 1 Shayamoya 0
Tuks 2 Elsies 0
Mamelodi Sundowns 3 Celtics 0
Stellenbosch 2 Highlands Park 0

Day 2 of the promises to be more exciting with some very good games which I'm sure fans are looking forward to. With Ubuntu Academy and SAFA Cape Town having collected maximum points yesterday, today they face each other knowing very well that a win will surely guarantee them a passage to the last 16.

The defending champions Grassy Park are playing their 1st game against visitors from Namibia, Windhoek Gymnasium. Can they defend their trophy, well time will tell. The last game of the day sees Stellenbosch coming up against Highlands Park, visitors from the Gauteng Development League at 18h45.

Come and enjoy this soccer festival and the fee for today is R30 per person.

Day 1 of the has come and gone. Not a good or bad day for our township representatives Everton FC, Rebels, Clover, and Porto as they battled against some of the elite academies you would find in Cape Town. Rebels managed to get a draw against Stellenbosch FC and Porto came up with all 3 points against Greenwood Athletic. Clover and Everton lost their games against Young Bafana and Cape Town Spurs respectively.
Having watched all these games, I have noticed one thing about our township representative, they always start their games on a high note. But towards the later stages of the 1st half the tempo drops. If they can finish the games the way they start, they can cause havoc in these tournaments. For me, this can be attributed to a lack of fitness. With academies they are more disciplined with training and with our township boys sometimes they skip training and that will always show with these big tournaments. Boys you are talented don't doubt that but talent alone is not enough. Training is very important, train hard and you will see the results. The talent is there but add a little bit of discipline, mark my words you will see the results.

Credit to 021footballers, Conrayswail and YB for beautiful images.